giantdays

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke (left) and David Byrne.
Photo: James Day

It seemed like a crazy idea. When Radiohead said it would release its new album, In Rainbows, as a pay-what-you-will digital download, you’d have thought the band had gone communist. After all, Thom Yorke and company are one of the world’s most successful groups — a critical darling as well as a fan favorite for nearly 15 years. They hadn’t put out a new album in more than four years, and the market was hungry for their next disc. So why would Radiohead conduct such a radical experiment?

Thom Yorke in conversation with David Byrne.

While pay-what-you-will worked for Radiohead, though, it’s hard to imagine the model paying off for Miley Cyrus — aka chart-topping teenybopper Hannah Montana. Cyrus’ label, Walt Disney Records, will stick to selling CDs in Wal-Mart, thank you very much. But the truth is that Radiohead didn’t intend In Rainbows to start a revolution. The experiment simply proves there is plenty of room for innovation in the music business — this is just one of many new paths. Wired asked David Byrne — a legendary innovator himself and the man who wrote the Talking Heads song “Radio Head” from which the group takes its name — to talk with Yorke about the In Rainbows distribution strategy and what others can learn from the experience.

Byrne: OK.

Yorke: [To assistant.] Shut the bloody door.

Byrne: Well, nice record, very nice record.

Yorke: Thank you. Wicked.

Byrne: [Laughs.]

Yorke: That’s it, isn’t it?

Byrne: That’s it, we’re done. [Laughs.] OK. I’ll start by asking some of the business stuff. What you did with this record wasn’t traditional, not even in the sense of sending advance copies out to the press and such.

Yorke: The way we termed it was “our leak date.” Every record for the last four — including my solo record — has been leaked. So the idea was like, we’ll leak it, then.

Byrne: Previously there’d be a release date, and advance copies would get sent to reviewers months ahead of that.

Yorke: Yeah, and then you’d ring up and say, “Did you like it? What did you think?” And it’s three months in advance. And then it’d be, “Would you go do this for this magazine,” and maybe this journalist has heard it. All these silly games.

Byrne: That’s mainly about the charts, right? About gearing marketing and prerelease to the moment a record comes out so that — boom! — it goes into the charts.

Yorke: That’s what major labels do, yeah. But it does us no good, because we don’t cross over [to other fan bases]. The main thing was, there’s all this bollocks [with the media]. We were trying to avoid that whole game of who gets in first with the reviews. These days there’s so much paper to fill, or digital paper to fill, that whoever writes the first few things gets cut and pasted. Whoever gets their opinion in first has all that power. Especially for a band like ours, it’s totally the luck of the draw whether that person is into us or not. It just seems wildly unfair, I think.

Byrne (left) and Yorke in Radiohead’s Oxford offices.
Photo: James Day

(more…)

The end of the year — its best of lists and shopping gridlock, a rat-racing info overload — drives me a little crazy. That in mind, I was thinking it’d be nice to offer some supremely spacious music like Norwegian composer/improviser Ole-Henrick Moe’s recent offering, Ciaccona/3 Persephone Perceptions, which came out last month on always reliable Rune Grammofon. It’s a double disc, containing two lengthy pieces for solo violin (43 and 40 minutes, respectively). Moe’s played as “OHM” on a number of records by Rune-associated acts like Deathprod, Nils Økland, and the White Birch. Here, he’s written the compositions, but his wife, Kari Rønnekleiv, handles the bow. The result is a jagged, precisely intense trip — sometimes silent for what feels like minutes, other times bristling with a manic, dark energy before pacing into less brittle, daggered notes and ghostly choruses. Really bad ass, and maybe not as quiet as I’d thought when I was listening to the entire piece, but at least there are no human voices messing with the gaps and pauses. The first two excerpts posted below run concurrently at the beginning of Ciaconna — the disc has the segments divided into tracks, but it’s to be listened to as a whole. The third MP3 is the final segment of 3 Persephone Perceptions. (When that last part comes in, it hits like KK Null.) The liner notes, written by fellow Norwegian composers Cecilie Ore and Rolf Wallin, mention “both pieces stem from personal experience. Ciaconna is connected with the death of Ole-Henrik Moe’s former teacher Iannis Xenakis, 3 Persephone Perceptions with memories from childhood.” Memories of what, exactly? I have my money on a blizzard of some sort — emotional or otherwise.

Downloads

Ole-Henrik Moe - “Ciaccona (track 4)”

Ole-Henrik Moe - “Ciaccona (track 5)”

Ole-Henrik Moe - “3 Persephone Perceptions (excerpt)” (more…)

TUESDAY, December 18th

DUBLAB & PART TIME PUNKS present…

GIVE UP with A SAD, SLOW DANCE PARTY

holiday sorrow seekers, come celebrate sadness with your selectors…

Ale
BennyShambles
frosty
J.Mendez
Michael Stock
Jimmy Tamborello
+ special downer guest djs

inside = a teardrop dance party. all slow dancing, all-night long
patio = a deeply depressing disc sob session

FREE / 21+ / 9pm-2am

La Cita
336 S Hill St, Downtown
Los Angeles, CA 90013

From Maya’s myspace

SO THEY TRIED TO SHUT ME DOWN AGAIN. I MADE THE PAPER PLANES VIDEO. I MADE IT HOW THEY WANTED. NO VIOLENCE. AMBIGUOUS. MTV - FRIENDLY. NOW TODAY, I CHECK YOUTUBE AND SEE THE LEAKED MTV PAPER PLANES VIDEO UP FOR THE FIRST TIME. I CLICKED ON IT AND OUT COMES THIS FUCKED UP MESS WITH DOUBLE-TRACKED BULLSHIT MESS WHO THE THE FUCK IS DOING THIS TO ME?????

THE VIDEO WAS SABOTAGED FOR WHATEVER REASON AND IM DISAPPOINTED THAT MTV HAS HAD SUCH A MAJOR ROLE IN THIS. THE BLOGGERS WHO ARE LAZY ENOUGH TO FOLLOW THE MTV LINK AND POST UP AND COMMENT ON THE SOUND WHEN THAT HASNT BEEN COMPROMISED AND THE GUNSHOT ARENT REPLACED AND EDITED MAKES ME SAD. I DID FIGHT FOR THE SOUND , BECAUSE PUTTING MEANINGS IN YOUR VIDEOS, IN MY OPINION IS A DYING ART. I CAN FILM MY SELF ANYWHERE ANYTIME AND LET YOU KNOW THE TRUTH , BUT THE SONG IS WHAT I WANTED TO PRESERVE IN THIS CASE.

But it’s all better now — the MTV version has been DMCA’s off YouTube, and the real, guns ‘n’ cash registers M.I.A.-approved iteration is here for your enjoyment.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sei-eEjy4g]

Heres what she had to say about all this.

LOOK I KNOW THERE ARE HATERS OUT THERE, I DEAL WITH IT EVERYDAY THATS NO FUCKING BIG DEAL AND IVE DEALT WITH WORSE IN MY LIFE, A FEW PEOPLE TALKING SHIT DONT MATTER TO ME, BUT TWISTING TRUTH ISNT THE LESSON I WANNA LEARN IN MY TIME IN MUSIC, SO WHO EVER THAT IS DOING IT , I WANNA SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT

1, I ORIGINALLY WANTED TO SHOOT THE VIDEO IN A FACTORY ON THE BORDER OF
EQUADOR, BUT COULDNT. I WAS TOURING THE U.S, I COULDA BEEN ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD RIGHT THEN BUT THERE I WAS IN AMERICA, IN NYC, IN BROOKLYN, IN BEDSTUY , I WAS TORN BETWEEN SCRAPIN SHOWS IN AMERICA AND MEETING AMERICAN FANS OR SHOOTING IN NYC ON MY ONLY DAY OFF I’D HAD IN 4 MONTHS AND GETTING ON WITH IT.

2, SO THAT WAS THAT! I NEVER MADE A VIDEO IN AMERICA AND HEY ITS STILL A PART OF WHAT I DO AND SAY, ITS WAS STILL VALID, SO I WAS READY TO ROLL WITH IT.

3, YOU ALL KNOW HOW THE SONG SOUNDS, THATS WHY WHEN U GO ON YOUTUBE 400, 000 PEOPLE WOULD RATHER LISTEN THE SONG AS IT IS AND STARE AT SOME PICTURE THEN TO ACTUALLY WATCH A VIDEO

4, WHEN LETTERMAN CENSORD ME IT WAS WAC OF COURSE!!!!!! , AND YES I FELT SOOOOOO BAD FOR WHAT THEY DID TO MY SOUND. I WAS ABEL TO SOUND CHECK FOR THAT SHOW AND THEY LET ME SOUND CHECK FINE, THEN ON THE ACTUAL TAPING MY SOUND WAS SOOO DIFFERENT FROM WHAT ID AGREED, AS SOON AS I OPENED MY MOUTH THE DIFFERENCE BLEW ME AWAY, I FELT I WAS GETTING BULLIED ON NATIONAL TELEVISON, AND I COULDNT EVEN REACH OUT TO MY LABELS OR MY MANAGEMENT TO HELP, SINCE THEY ARE NEW TO WHAT HAPPENS TO AN ARTIST LIKE ME IN MAINSTEAM AMERICAN CULTURE.

SO THEY TRIED TO SHUT ME DOWN AGAIN. I MADE THE PAPER PLANES VIDEO. I MADE IT HOW THEY WANTED. NO VIOLENCE. AMBIGUOUS. MTV - FRIENDLY. NOW TODAY, I CHECK YOUTUBE AND SEE THE LEAKED MTV PAPER PLANES VIDEO UP FOR THE FIRST TIME. I CLICKED ON IT AND OUT COMES THIS FUCKED UP MESS WITH DOUBLE-TRACKED BULLSHIT MESS

WHO THE THE FUCK IS DOING THIS TO ME?????

THE VIDEO WAS SABOTAGED FOR WHATEVER REASON AND IM DISAPPOINTED THAT MTV HAS HAD SUCH A MAJOR ROLE IN THIS. THE BLOGGERS WHO ARE LAZY ENOUGH TO FOLLOW THE MTV LINK AND POST UP AND COMMENT ON THE SOUND WHEN THAT HASNT BEEN COMPROMISED AND THE GUNSHOT ARENT REPLACED AND EDITED MAKES ME SAD. I DID FIGHT FOR THE SOUND , BECAUSE PUTTING MEANINGS IN YOUR VIDEOS, IN MY OPINION IS A DYING ART. I CAN FILM MY SELF ANYWHERE ANYTIME AND LET YOU KNOW THE TRUTH , BUT THE SONG IS WHAT I WANTED TO PRESERVE IN THIS CASE.

TO ALL MY FANS, LOOK, ITS LIKE THIS,
IM LEARNING THINGS ABOUT THIS WORLD WITH YOU, I WANT YOU TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS TO ME , I WANT YOU TO SEE HOW PEOPLE WILL SIT AND SPEND ALL SUNDAY TEARIN ME DOWN FOR SOMETHING I DIDNT EVEN MAKE OR PUT OUT, SO PEOPLE WELCOME TO MODERN DAY PROPAGANDA MESSAGE MANGLING.

IN 2007, AN OUTSIDER OPINION WILL BE CONFRONTED THIS WAY , AND THIS IS HOW THE BATTLE GOES, MY MESSAGES AND IDEAS AND MEANING WILL ALWAYS BE BROUGHT TO YOU WITH SLIGHTLY TAINTED CHANNELS. IF YOU SUPPORT ME BE SMART, AND KNOW THAT.

I LOVE YOU, U KEEP ME GOING.
XXXXXX
MAYA

HERE IS THE REAL AMERICAN VERSION WITH GUN SHOTS!

[youtube:http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGUGgcoQ09A]

Touch surfaces as specialized control interfaces: ProRemote converts the iPhone or the iPod touch in a wireless control for Pro Tools LE with realtime feedback. While this may seem limited to the audio world, it shows that having this kind of power in such a tiny package could solve the problems of many users. While the beta will be here next week, the final software “won’t ship until Apple releases their native iPhone SDK and I can convince them to certify the software. So hopefully sometime in late February I hope to have this released.” The price? Around $150. Most musicians I know will gladly pay that for this kind of remote control says the creator of the software Alex Lelievre

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAtkoje4-eM]

The Holiday 2007 items are now arriving at retailers worldwide this week. A limited number of these items are also available from one of my favorite online stores

Here are 8 good reasons you might not want to jump on board with Sony’s Blu-Ray format. Sony has a history of building “technically superior formats”, but at much too high of a cost. This always leads to eventual failure.

Sony HiFD

The Sony HiFD (High capacity Floppy Disk) was an attempt by Sony to replace their own aging 3.5 inch floppy disk, which had proven successful in the mid-1980s war to replace the 5.25 inch floppy disk. This did not happen, however. A few months after launch it emerged that the HiFD suffered from frequent crashes during read/write operations, and had a tendency of having its read rate drop into the low kilobyte per second range, effectively rendering it unusable. Initially it was thought that a new driver could solve these problems – instead, Sony issued a full recall at the start of the following year.

Sony MiniDisc

A MiniDisc (MD) is a magneto-optical disc-based data storage device initially intended for storage of up to 80 minutes of digitalized audio. MiniDisc was announced by Sony in 1991 and introduced January 12, 1992. The MiniDisc was targeted as a replacement for the Philips analog cassette audio tape system. MiniDiscs are popular in Japan as a digital upgrade to cassette tapes, but have not been as popular world-wide.

Sony Dynamic Digital Sound

SDDS is a cinema sound system developed by Sony. Digital sound information is recorded on both outer edges of the 35 mm film release print. The system supports up to 8 independent channels of sound: 5 front channels, 2 surround channels and a sub-bass channel. Out of the 1,400 plus films mixed in SDDS, only 97 of them to date have been mixed to support the full 8 channels, mostly because most mixing studios are geared towards producing 5.1 mixes rather than 7.1 mixes. Also the additional sound equipment required for 8 channel SDDS makes it more expensive to install. SDDS is not currently available on any home format.

Sony ATRAC

Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding (ATRAC) is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio information with minimal loss in perceptible quality. On August 30, 2007 Sony announced that its online music store, Connect Music Services, would no longer support the ATRAC audio format.

Sony Memory Stick

Memory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, launched by Sony in October 1998. The original memory stick was available in sizes up to 128 MB, and a sub-version, Memory Stick Select allows two banks of 128 MB to be on the same card. An 8 GB card was unveiled at the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and, according to Sony, the Memory Stick PRO has a maximum potential size of 32 GB. While the Memory Stick has outlived most other flash memory formats, with a longevity comparable to CompactFlash and Secure Digital (SD), it has never enjoyed as widespread popularity as these competitors; the majority of portable devices that use it are Sony and Sony Ericsson devices. The significant third-party licensees that manufacture Memory Sticks are SanDisk and Lexar.

Sony HiMD

In January 2004, Sony announced the Hi-MD media storage format. With its release in later 2004 came the ability to use newly-developed, high-capacity 1 gigabyte Hi-MD discs, sporting the same dimensions as regular MiniDiscs. In 2006, Sony positioned Hi-MD as a Digital Audio Tape (DAT) alternative, placing the MZ-M200 Hi-MD Walkman under the Pro Audio section of its “Broadcast & Business Solutions Company” website, alongside its flash memory-based recorder, the PCM-D1. Though not a complete failure,it does continue to struggle.

Sony SACD

Super Audio CD (SACD) is a read-only optical audio disc format aimed at providing higher fidelity digital audio reproduction than the Red Book audio CD. Introduced in 2000, it was developed by Sony and Philips Electronics. SACD was in a format war with DVD-Audio, but neither format managed to replace regular audio CDs.

Sony Betamax

Sony’s Betamax is the 1/2 inch home videocassette tape recording format introduced on April 16, 1975 (in market on May 10) and derived from the earlier, professional 3/4 inch U-matic video cassette format. It was the most popular video format in 1983, gaining almost a third of the UK video recorder market, while Sanyo’s VTC5000 was the top selling UK video recorder. By 1985, however, the market had turned sharply towards VHS. Sony’s attempt to dictate an industry standard backfired when JVC, and parent Matsushita (Which owns the brand, Panasonic), made the tactical decision to forgo Sony’s offer of Betamax in favor of JVC’s VHS technology.

#9 This spot is reserved for a certain special someone.

Not content to let Sony ride high on the good news the PS3’s finally moving along at a pretty brisk pace, Nintendo came out with its own crowing announcement: Having sold more 6 million DSes this year through Nov. 30 in the US, it’s the top-selling system of the year, landing in greasy, undeserving hands at a rate of more than one every 5 seconds. And that’s not counting December. So, uh, who doesn’t have one yet? [Kotaku]

Ben Garrett, aka frYars, is a skinny, wavy-haired 18-year-old London-based singer-songwriter with a Roxy swagger, and whose velvety baritone sounds like it’s emerging from someone twice his age and stature. It makes perfect sense he was brought to our attention by a friend (thanks, Kristi), who heard of him through Beirut’s sax player while she was traveling across the puddle. Here, though, instead of a youthful croon wrapping around Balkan brass, Garrett sets up his intelligent tales of death and happiness within danceable, but totally pop-rock synth and piano symphonies, giving a sort of Bowie lift-off and a bit of that Jarvis suavity to the proceedings. Garrett, who runs with the fellow BTW Cajun Dance Party and Bombay Bicycle Club crew, recently released his four-song debut, The Ides EP — we’re hooked on every last note of it. For starters there’s the title track with its irresistible “You should have died that very night / Good job for you, I wasn’t born a killer” hooks and propulsively dark, but glam undertow. The tune’s appropriately hued video — gothy masked ballerina in her own world, a sharply dressed Garrett amid a cast of walking lampshades blinking out code — is raring to go after the jump, along with a pair of MP3s from the EP. “You took my life, you took my pride…”

Download | (Happy)

photo by Elisha Smith-Leverock